La Salle library to host Mahjong talk virtually

The La Salle Public Library will virtually host Annelise Heinz, author and associate professor of history for a presentation on Mahjong at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 11.

In her talk, Heinz will explore the American history of this Chinese parlor game and will chart the complex cultural journey of the game’s history that connects American expatriates in Shanghai, Jazz Age white Americans, urban Chinese Americans in the 1930s, Jewish American suburban mothers and Air Force officers’ wives in the postwar era. Heinz’s talk follows the history of one game to think how, in their daily lives, individuals create and experience cultural change.

Annelise Heinz is an author and associate professor of history at the University of Oregon, where she teaches women’s history, gender and sexuality, ethnicity and immigration, and consumerism. Her work has been featured on National Public Radio and international Chinese television. She has lived and played Mahjong in the United States and Southwestern China. She authored, “Mahjong: A Chinese Game and the Making of Modern American Culture,” which won the Pacific Coast Branch Book Award.

This program is free and open to the public. It will be presented via Zoom. Register at https://bit.ly/3loUdaW. For more information, call the library at 815-223-2341.